The Development of Chinese Calligraphy
Chinese calligraphy, like Chinese painting, ranks among the most important oftraditional Chinese fine arts. We may divide the developmental history of Chinese calligraphy into three periods. The Pre-Qin Period (before 22lB. C. ) may be called the ancient period, or the period of early lieginnings. From the Western Han Dynasty (2O6 B. C. -24 A. D. ) to the end of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A. D. ) is the second period, or the period of maturity. From the Five Dynasties (9O7-96O A. D. ) to the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 A. D. ) is the modern period, or the period of individualistic development.
The discovery of Jiaguwen (oracle bone inscriptions) is a very important event in the Chinese language research. Jiaguwen was seen as the most ancient characters in China. Therefore, they were the earliest pieces of Chinese calligraphy.
Zhongdingwen, which have many similarities with jiaguwen and can be seen as the development of jiaguwen, are inscriptions on bronze vessels in the late Shang Dynasty (c.16OO- c.1100 B. C. ). Zhongdingwen is also called jinwen (inscriptions on ancient broze objects). According to statistics, characters of zhongdingwen in the Shang Dynasty numbered up to more than four thousand. At this time, there was another form of whting called kedouwen (tadpole script), which was painted on bamboo slips. Following zhongdingwen appeared dazhuan (greater seal script), which is called zhouwen (scripts in the Zhou Dynasty (c. 11OO-221 B. C. ) ). Shiguwen is the representative of dazhuan.
During the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B. C. ), Li Si succeeded in standardizing Chinese writings, which is called xiaozhuan (lesser seal script). Examples of xiaozhuan of this period are Taishan Keshi (stone inscription on Mount Tai) and Langyatai Keshi (stone inscription on langya Terrace). At the same time, a man called Cheng Miao invented lishu (official script).
The second period spanned more than one thousand years from the Western Han Dynasty to the end of the Tang Dynasty. During this period, just like painting, calligraphy was also regarded as an art of great value and importance. In the Han Dynasty,the most popular calligraphy forms were zhuanshu and lishu. Throughout the Han Dynasty, lishu possessed a prevailing position as the official script. Although it was invented in the Qin Dynasty, lishu saw its real development in the Han Dynasty. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, bafenshu was invented. The characteristic of this script is that the right and the left sides of a character turn against each other. The most famous calligrapher in this line was Cai Yong, whose greatest work was Xiping Shijing (the stone classics in the 4th year of Emperor Xiping's reign during the Han Dynasty). From the Jin Dynasty (265-42O ) on, kaishu (regular script) became the chief object of cultivation, with xinghu (running hand) and caoshu (cursive script) as subordinate forms. Other styles were not important. Kaishu appeared during the periods of the late Han Dynasty and Wei and Jin dynasties. Zhong You was considered as its inventor.Later on, Wang Xizhi, whose known calligraphies are Huangting Jing, Yueyi Lun,and Xaonu Ca0'e Bei, was considered as the greatest calligrapher of all times. His son Wang Xianzhi was also a great calligrapher, who learned the style of his father and created a style of his own. In the Chinese calligraphic history, they were called "the two Wangs".
Xingshu is a modification of lishu. This style was created by Liu Desheng in the reigns of Emperors Huan and Ling of the Han Dynasty. At the very beginning, it was called xingya, and later on became an independent form.
Caoshu including zhangcao and jincao was invented by Shi You in the reign of Emperor Yuan (48-33 B. C.) of the Han Dynasty. Jijiuzhang written by him in the reign of Emperor Yuan is a work in zhangcao (a coarse style formed hy breaking up the forms of lishu ). During the Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhi developed a new style of caoshu-jincao by leaming the style of Du Du and Cui Yuan with his own creation. For this sake, he was called "the sage of cao". When the great calligrapher Wang Xizhi made comments on his own works, he said that his works in the cursive script was as good as that of Zhang Zhi. It is thus evident that from the Han Dynasty to the Jin Dynasty, Zhang Zhi's name remained a symbol of perfection in this branch of calligraphy. During the Tang Dynasty, Sun Guoting, Zhang Xu and Huai Su were famous calligraphers of caoshu.
The development of calligraphy reached its peak during the Tang Dynasty. Many great calligraphers like Ouyang Xun, Liu Gongquan, Yu Shinan and Yan Zhenqing appeared, and their works are still used as calligraphy textbooks up to now. After the Tang Dynasty, it was realized that only calligraphic works with unique personal style could be recognized. The development of calligraphy in the post-Tang Dynasty was characterized by individualistic development. During the Song Dynasty (960-1279A. D. ), Su Dongpo, Huang Tingiian, Mi Yuanzhang and Cai Xiang were all noted calligraphers of different styles. In the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 A. D. ), Zhao Zi' ang initiated a new development of kaishu. Zhao's works also had an influence on the development of calligraphy. Dong Qichang, He Shaoji, Zheng Banqiao, Kang Youwei were among the famous calligraphers of the Qing Dynasty.
